The Last In Line Review

Released: Jul 13, 1984Genre: Heavy MetalLabel: VertigoNumber Of Tracks: 9
"The Last In Line" is Dio's second studio album, and it is just an overall spectacular performance. Dio's unique sounding voice adds a "wow" effect that makes everything he sings amazing, including rainbows!

The Last In Line
Reviewed by:
CinderellaFan14, on february 16, 2012 4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Sound: Dio shows his devil's horns to the universe once again with his second solo album, "The Last In Line". The amazing vocalist for bands Elf, Rainbow, and Black Sabbath proves once again his musical talents on this album, with his unique sounding vocals dominating each and every song.
The album kicks off with "We Rock", which is one of my all-time favorite songs from Dio's solo career. The song's fast paced beat, quick guitar riffs, and Dio's naturally amazing voice makes this track an instant masterpiece. The title track for this album, "The Last In Line", is another amazing song. When the song reaches it's tempo change, Dio bellows out a spine-shivering note which only adds to the creativity and talent.
"Breathless" is yet another excellent Dio song, but it has a different sound as compared to other songs off the album. One of the lines of this song marks the return of Dio's rainbows: "There could be hell or rainbows". It is not a Dio album unless he sings about rainbows! However, Dio is one of the few hard rock/heavy metal singers who can sing about rainbows.
"I Speed At Night" is an extremely fast paced song, but it is another one of my favorites. When the song hits the chorus, I just have to sit back in awe. Vivian Campbell performs an amazing guitar solo, and he proves that Dio is not the only member of the band who has talent. "One Night In The City" is another unique sounding song, and it sounds like Dio meets Alice Cooper. It's a great thing I love Alice Cooper, then! Once again, Dio shows his lyric invincibility when he sings, "My Sally was a princess". There are few singers who could perform those lyrics without people sitting back and laughing, but luckily, Dio is one of those few. "Evil Eyes" is another great song, which sounds similar to "Turn Off The Night" from Dio-era Black Sabbath. Once again, Dio cannot resist singing about rainbows in this song! But, it only makes the album even more enjoyable.
"Mystery" sounds like "Breathless" meets "Rainbow In The Dark", which helps make this my favorite song off the album. Dio performs flawlessly on this album, and the lyrics off this song could only be performed by him. The heavily distorted guitar returns with this next song, "Eat Your Heart Out". This song also captures a sound similar to Dio-era Black Sabbath, and Vivian Campbell's perfectly performed guitar riffs make a great addition to this album. The album ends with "Egypt (The Chains Are On)", which starts out very uniquely. The song transitions from an Egyptian-sounding tune into a slow, heavily distorted rocker. This song could be the story behind this album's cover, with the Dio figure apparently controlling all of the people below in what could be Egypt. When Dio says his favorite words, "They had rainbows in their eyes", the album kicks out into another tempo change. Vinny Appice does a spectacular job on drums when it comes to this track. I consider this song to be Dio's "2112", as it has the several tempo changes and some story behind it. With this album, Dio once again proves his name to be fact: he is the god of hard rock and heavy metal. // 10

Lyrics: Dio's vocal performance is unquestionably amazing. His vocal range is spectacular, and when he adds a falsetto-like effect when he sings, it is simply great to hear. With each song on this album, Dio performs perfectly, despite strange and unique lyrics. Dio appears to have an undying love for rainbows and princesses, as he includes these terms on the majority of his songs on this album. But Dio is one of the few that could perform these lyrics, as his voice is so unique that he could sing anything and it would sound spectacular. // 9

Overall Impression: "The Last In Line" is Dio's second studio album, and it is just an overall spectacular performance. Dio's unique sounding voice adds a "wow" effect that makes everything he sings amazing, including rainbows! Between Dio's vocals, Vivian Campbell's perfect guitar playing, and Vinny Appice's great percussion work, this entire album is just flawless. I enjoy every song off this album, but the most impressive songs have to be:
1. Mystery
2. The Last In Line
3. Egypt (The Chains Are On)
4. Evil Eyes
5. Breathless
There is nothing I can bring myself to hate about this album! If this album were stolen, the thief would release I Speed At Night, spend One Night In The City, become The Last In Line, and then look into my Evil Eyes until he was Breathless! Once again, Dio proves that he is one of the greatest hard rock vocalists of all time, and it is through albums like this that he will live forever. // 10

The Last In Line
Reviewed by:
N3WW4V3N1NJ4, on june 11, 2014 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sound: If there was ever a point at which the iconic heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio could have made anything even remotely capable of being referred to as "pop metal," "sleaze metal" or anything that most of the most popular bands during the heyday of his solo career in the 1980s were doing, then this album, "The Last in Line" would probably be where you might find some songs or elements that depending on your opinion may slightly have "pop metal" leanings. Fear not, Dio never went the way of KISS, but this is still an overall more light, mellow record than "Holy Diver" and I was quite surprised upon first hearing the entire album, that only the title track ever gets radio airplay. // 10

Lyrics: The core Dio sound is alive and well on "The Last in Line," with artistic, melodic and heavy instrumentation providing a backer for Ronnie James Dio's legendary, operatic-influenced singing skills. At certain points on this album, like with most Dio albums, you can feel that there is also a very strong influence from classical music, which unlike with some metal musicians who claim that Beethoven and Bach influenced them, yet play stuff that sounds like trash, Dio and his band seem to actually have taken the time to incorporate it into the songs in a way that works. The majority of the lyrics on this album sound like one of two things: epic fantasy or Sammy Hagar. // 10

Overall Impression: I would say this is probably my favorite album of the entirety of Ronnie James Dio's solo career. I can't exactly pinpoint any one particular reason why, however, it's a very unique fusion of the better parts of mainstream 1980s MTV-fueled pop metal and the epic melodic power metal that everyone who truly is a Dio fan knows as his "trademark sound." I would never call any Dio album "pop metal" as a main genre, this is still overall a standard heavy metal album, but it does have a somewhat radio-friendly feel to it. If you've never heard of Dio and you like heavy metal, you need to check out this album and "Holy Diver," they just don't make heavy metal like this anymore. // 10

iommi600 wrote: I've never been a huge fan of Dio, but this album and "Killing the Dragon" are just awesome!

I found that the more and more I listened to Dio, the more I enjoyed his music. When I first found Dio, the only song the radio station would play was "Holy Diver". It's a pretty good song, but the lyrics sounded just bizarre, which turned me away from Dio. I hadn't heard any Dio-era Sabbath, and when I found out Ozzy had been replaced with Dio, I almost fainted. I had only heard "Holy Diver", and that alone prevented me from even wanting to hear any of that music.
When I finally heard "Rainbow In The Dark" and some of his Rainbow-era songs such as "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Run With The Wolf", the more I enjoyed Dio. Then, when I decided to listen to Dio Sabbath, I was surprised how good songs like "Heaven and Hell" were. Some songs were different than Ozzy-era Sabbath, but I really enjoyed it. It took a while, but now I'm a giant fan of Dio. It's a shame I'm too late to see him